Good morning.
Saturday in town will be mostly cloudy with a high of thirty-eight. We’ll have 9h 7m of sunlight, 10h 11m of daylight, and tomorrow will be one minute shorter.
On this day seventy-one years ago, America declared war against Japan, in response to that nation’s attack the previous day. Here’s the lede from the New York Times story reporting on the Congressional vote:
Washington, Dec. 8.–The United States today formally declared war on Japan. Congress, with only one dissenting vote, approved the resolution in the record time of 33 minutes after President Roosevelt denounced Japanese aggression in ringing tones. He personally delivered his message to a joint session of the Senate and House. At 4:10 P. M. he affixed his signature to the resolution.
On 12.8.1917, a prominent Wisconsin inventor passed away:
1917 – Inventor John F. Appleby Dies
On this date the inventor of the twine-binder, John F. Appleby died. Appleby was raised on a wheat farm in Wisconsin and searched for an easier way to harvest and bundle grains. His invention gathered severed spears into bundles and bound the sheaves with hempen twine. His invention, which was pulled by horses, was a great success. In 1878 William Deering, a farm machinery manufacturer secured the right to use Appleby’s patent and sold 3,000 twine harvesters in a single year. In 1882 the McCormicks (of the McCormick reapers) paid $35,000 for the privilege to manufacture Appleby’s invention. Appleby spent the rest of his life in his shop trying to create additional successful machinery. [Source: Badger Saints and Sinners by Fred L. Holmes]
If you’ve been worried that perhaps, just perhaps, America hasn’t devoted all her resources to the search for Bigfoot, rest assured that cryptozoologists are throwing a blimp into the mix. Next, I’m sure, a few drones, but at least this is a start:
Google’s daily puzzle shoots a basketball question: “Which NBA player shares his name with a founding member of New Edition and a song on the album “Sheik Yerbouti”?”